Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 1:

In yet another jolt to the beleaguered private intra-state air service provider-Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd (AOAPL), the Twin City Commissionerate Police this evening arrested one of its director on charges of cheating.

Rep Pic Courtesy: http://www.burntorangereport.com/ Rep Pic Courtesy: http://www.burntorangereport.com/

Santosh Pani, a director of AOAPL was arrested by the Khandagiri police on charges of cheating Sandeep Ray of his money.

Santosh was arrested by the police on the basis of a fresh FIR filed by Sandeep Ray today.

“It’s a conspiracy against us. I will give appropriate reply in the court,” Santosh told reporters after his arrest.

Earlier on March 25 this year, Sandeep had filed a cheating case against the private carrier at Khandagiri police station.

Sandeep who is son of Dilip Ray, BJP MLA from Rourkela had then claimed that he had invested Rs 80 lakh in AOAPL for which he was promised 40% stake in the carrier.

As AOAPL failed to provide shares, Sandeep wanted his investment back.

While AOAPL returned Rs 40 lakh of the invested amount to Sandeep, it had resorted to dilly-dallying tactics to return rest of the amount.

Notably, the state government yesterday terminated its Air Services Operation Agreement (AOA) with AOAPL with effect from today.

The intra-state airline was operating a nine-seater aircraft between Bhubaneswar and the three major commercial centres of Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Rourkela.